UFC on Spike: My Wishlist
by SSreporters on Jul 16, 2009 4:03 PM EDT
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It's no secret that I'm a massive fan of the UFC content put on Spike TV. From the free fight nights, to The Ultimate Fighter (which in turn gets us more free fight nights with TUF Finale), the Ultimate Knockouts, "numbered" events previews, replays of PPV broadcasts, and even the odd major "numbered" events, Spike's UFC programming is pretty heavy.
And yet, I still want more. Or....some changes. The quantity of the quality is there and it's impressive but there is room for improvement. Some of what is on my wishlist is probably unrealistic (but that's why it's a wishlist fools!), but much of it includes additional and different programming as well as some annoying broadcasting habits of free fight cards.
The Wishlist
1.) How about some Ultimate Submissions? There are multiple DVDs (to my knowledge there are three) that highlight the best of the best armbars, kimuras, RNCs, guillotines, etc. I understand the casual MMA fan may not really be enticed or stimulated by watching submissions, but there is a lot more to MMA than just flashy and brutal KOs. I'm quite sure the majority of the diehards out there have an ideal interest in watching.....Tim Sylvia's arm get broken.
2.) Eliminate West Coast tape delays for the numbered events. This really peeves me. I know it's to maximize ratings, but I absolutely cannot stand seeing an extra 3 hours of tape delay here out west. UFC 95 was aired back in February at 9 PM ET/PT. The event "live" didn't start until 12:00 PM PT, so to add-on an even longer delay is just pointless to me. It's Saturday, Spike can afford to cut into its constant re-runs of CSI. If you can't air it live (which I guess is understandable), don't make the wait even longer for everyone west of Colorado!
3.) STOP AIRING SO MANY COMMERCIALS ON THE FIGHT NIGHTS!!!! There is no need to elaborate here.
4.) A UFC fighter profile show. Don't think of this as a boxing-style "life story" kind of thing. If you notice, very rarely (if not ever) do you hear something like "This fighter grew up in the ghetto without a father and his mother left him before he was born, and now he's fighting for a shot at the title"* or anything else that has absolutely nothing to do with the sport. I am fine with simple quotes involving Rich Franklin's teaching background It would be nice to have a 30 minute fighter background -- a mini-bio if you will -- profiling both hot UFC prospects and title contenders. For example, looking at some of Brock Lesnar's collegiate wrestling highlights, or how GSP became ruler of Canada with one takedown of the Prime Minister......I'd certainly tune in.
5.) More free fights. In an interview with Yahoo Sports' Kevin Iole earlier this week, White said the following on having UFC fights on free TV:
"I’m a big believer in having free fights on television," a weary White said following the bout. "I grew up a huge boxing fan and I used to see all the big fights on ABC’s ‘Wide World of Sports’ and USA’s ‘Tuesday Night Fights.’ What happened with the boxing model is, when the pay model came along, everyone got greedy and you never saw good fights on free TV.
"We do the exact opposite. We put on 12 or 13 fights on pay-per-view a year that our fans pay for. I believe when you put on pay-per-views and the fans are buying, you need to give back to them and have big fights on free TV, too."
I'm fine with free fight cards featuring the Clay Guidas and [random contestant from The Ultimate Fighter] of the world, but wouldn't it be nice to see a PPV-caliber main event on Spike for free? It's not entirely far-fetched. UFC 75 was a free (but tape delayed) event on Spike with the main event featuring Rampage Jackson and Dan Henderson squaring off for the unified UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. This was of course during the time when Pride was still around so it was a UFC-Pride unification bout.
Anderson Silva, one of the biggest stars and most dominant men in all of MMA, had his first ever UFC fight against Chris Leben televised on Spike. Even after he successfully defended his middleweight belt for a 3rd time by submitting Dan Henderson and proved he was one of the elite stars in the UFC, he still fought on free TV last year (nearly 1 year to the day) against James Irvin in a UFN card that was televised live coast-to-coast.
I'd love to see more of that. It would certainly help grow the sport for the casuals who don't want to take a $44.95 risk on a PPV.
Well, that's all I have.
Do you have a UFC on Spike wishlist of your own?
* I am fully aware of the quote in #4. That's not a mistake but a mere joke. ;-)
The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.
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i'm a big of fan of #4...
the human interest stuff is something i’ve always embraced. they should do something somewhat between the “tapout” series on versus and the series w/bj penn-gsp (the name escapes me) detailing the backgrounds, training etc. and not just for the big ppv events. the nba became huge when they focussed on the personalities of their athletes not just the skills and the personalities of the up and comers or cagey vets not just the superstars. good suggestion.
I’d like to see a weekly live show. Even if it only showed a few fights, I’d be interested in watching prospects tracking the development of guys who don’t generally get a lot of attention.
Basically airing the equivalent of a prelim card on Spike?
Kinda like what ESPN does with Friday Night Fights?
I guess it could work but I think bi-weekly or monthly would be more feasible.
"And Joe for Matt Hughes, dislike may not be a strong enough adjective!" - Mike Goldberg
Yeah, kinda like Friday Night Fights. The article you passed on was interesting, I didn’t really put a lot of thought into the idea. I do think it would be good for the UFC to find some sort of vehicle other than TUF to build stars. A weekly or monthly live show of prospects would at least create a way for some quality prospects to get attention.
I suggest you read this
http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2009/5/1/861904/what-would-ufc-weekly-events-look
"And Joe for Matt Hughes, dislike may not be a strong enough adjective!" - Mike Goldberg
Back when I was a big pro wrestling fan, WWE (WWF back then) used to have a show called Sunday Night Heat that worked as a lead in to the PPV. It was an hour long show that had a few matches and built up the PPV main event a little more to get people excited and maybe pull a few more buys. I could see this idea working for UFC. Have 2-3 prelim fights live on Spike from 9-10 right before the PPV starts. The camera crew is already there filming it, everything is set to go live at 10, so why not let it go live at 9 and squeeze an hour of free fights out of it. I think it would help to increase PPV buys a little, and also help to get some of those prospects names out there. Because whats the use of filming the prelim fights if barely anybody is going to watch them.
by Albertrayon on Jul 16, 2009 4:59 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Rec'd
Brilliant idea.
I think it would be nice to broadcast the prelims on Spike and have reminders that it’s not too late to order the PPV or that you can watch the main card on the PPV.
What would be interesting is whether or not the PPV would replay any of the prelim fights if you’re getting quick fights like UFC 95.
"And Joe for Matt Hughes, dislike may not be a strong enough adjective!" - Mike Goldberg
The problem is timing and pacing. The only reason the prelim fights are there is to fill gaps in the PPV. Although prelims of the prelims to fill gaps in the Spike prelim show would be interesting.
A man should never waste an opportunity to keep his mouth shut.
There are already like 5 prelim fights for every card. Show 3 of them on Spike, save 2 of them to pad run time of PPV if needed. It just seems obvious that they would eventually move to this model of prelims on Spike, since it would be best for all parties. Spike gets more UFC fights which is always welcome, the lower card fighters get exposure (which would benefit UFC greatly as well), the fans get more free fights, and the UFC would see an increase in PPV buys. The prelim fights as they exist now just seem like a waste of a possible revenue stream, since who wants to buy them on UFC’s crappy video on demand service?
Plus, haven’t you noticed that a great number of UFC PPVs start with the mat already covered in blood? I want to see how that blood got there, as morbid as it sounds.
I like the idea of a post ppv prelim show, but they probably just need to go to a 4hr ppv show.
If you're not submitting, you're just rolling around with another guy.
They have 5 for a just in case scenario like the one at UFC 91, every single fight was televised. The PPV is set up to provide the viewers with as much action as possible and keeping an entertaining flow throughout. They are desperately afraid of dead air time.
A man should never waste an opportunity to keep his mouth shut.
Yeah, I think you have to talk to Spike about #3. I don’t think Zuffa controls that.
How's the weather up your own ass? - Stephen Colbert
by Derek Suboticki on Jul 16, 2009 5:15 PM EDT reply actions
I know there will be a commercials
But turning it into Ultimate Ad Night is annoying.
Just fewer commercials is fine.
"And Joe for Matt Hughes, dislike may not be a strong enough adjective!" - Mike Goldberg
it would be easy enough to do, simply sell the broadcast to someone like Bud light as a sponsor for the whole show.
If you're not submitting, you're just rolling around with another guy.
by BJJDenver on Jul 16, 2009 6:59 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
why not do what soccer does during the world cup so they dont always have to go to the commercials, and have advertisers buy a block of time during the fights. Have this displayed prominently somewhere in the corner, big enough to see. Therefore Spike and UFC still get money without going to commercials
by Brian Bobby on Jul 16, 2009 7:30 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Please god, make this happen in EVERY sport.
by thekiltedwonder on Jul 16, 2009 7:35 PM EDT up reply actions
ALL I WANT TO SAY IS SHARE THE CONTENT OF PRELIM FIGHTS!
Often realized some of the prelim fights are actually better than some of the main cards. Not to mention, they’ll get high ratings which means more $ from sponsors then to air the prelim fights on SPIKE after a week after the PPV event.
I hate to see regular fans passing on good fights that happened not so long ago and never to watch them ever again. (UFC VAULT is a joke, everyone prefers to watch fights on big TV screen)
How about utilizing prelims to expose some up & coming fighters to the viewers and i believe it’s WIN WIN situation because fans will get to know the fighters and will buy PPV for the fighters in the future, probably by that time they must have evolved to top ranked contenders.
Perfect example of Jon Fitch never getting much of recognition due to prelim fights until GSP.
*WHY WASTE VALUABLE CONTENTS??? SOME MAIN CARD WORTHY FIGHTERS fight on prelim cards time to time so taking the opportunity away from fans to follow their particular fighter is just ABSURD!
I was pissed to see Martin Kampman ended up in prelim… wtf?
You have to beat the legend, in order to become the LEGEND
-Melvin Manhoef (after his destruction of Sakuraba)
There’s a lot of downtime between fights and a lot of fluff in any card.
I mean, when I tivo’d Dream 10, I cut a 5 and half hour recording down to two actual hours of product. When I’ve watch local cards, I probably spend 60% of the time waiting for fights. I can see why they’d pad it with ads instead of Bruce Buffer gumming with Urijah Faber or something that didn’t generate revenue.
Also, less ads means less pay for the fighters.
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